Two Days - Two Book Events

Two literary events on tap for this weekend.

On Saturday, I will be at the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort. Last year I had a blast mingling with the authors and the readers in attendance. For the first time, Kentucky-native Sue Grafton will be there autographing her latest Kinsey Millhone mystery, W is for Wasted. Coincidentally, the book, which has been on my library request list for months, has just now become available for me. 

Also in attendance will be Duffy Brown, whom I met last year and whose Savannah-based mysteries Iced Chiffon and Killer in Crinolines I have very much enjoyed. 

The fair's website lists over 200 authors who will be present including poet, essayist, and novelist Wendell Berry, political reporter Eleanor Clift, and Bobbie Ann Mason. 

My plan, which worked so well last year, is to study the program that is online and choose beforehand the authors I want to meet. The aisles get crowded and it is best to have a strategy so I don't miss anyone. A great day!

Here are links to my posts on last year's Book Fair: here and here.

On Sunday, the award-winning, independent documentary film "Out of Print", produced and directed by Vivienne Roumani, will be shown, for free, at a theater right in my neighborhood.  It asks and debates the question Is the Book Really Dead? I am very much looking forward to seeing this. Here is how the film is described on its website:

Out of Print, narrated by Meryl Streep, draws us into the topsy-turvy world of words, illuminating the turbulent and exciting journey from the book through the digital revolution. Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of Amazon.com), Ray Bradbury, Scott Turow, Jeffery Toobin, parents, students, educators, scientists - all highlight how this revolution is changing everything about the printed world - and changing us.

Malice Domestic: The Agatha Award Nominees

Malice Domestic: Agatha Awards

Over at Death in the Stacks, I came across the nominees for the 2012 Agatha Awards. The awards, named for Agatha Christie, honor the 'traditional mystery' and the books nominated contain no explicit sex or excessive gore.

Well, that is a relief. 

The conference - it is celebrating its 25th year - is put on by Malice Domestic the first weekend in May in Bethesda, Maryland. The attendees vote for the winners. 

The guest of honor this year will be Laurie R. King who writes the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes historical mysteries. The international guest of honor will be Peter Robinson who pens the Inspector Banks mysteries which take place in Yorkshire. 

I am happy to see that one of the books nominated in the Best First Novel category is Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown. I met Ms. Brown at the Kentucky Book Fair in November 2012. The action of her mystery takes place in Savannah, Georgia - a city whose beauty is not in the least marred by murder - and I found it to be a fun read. 

The main character in Iced Chiffon is Reagan Summerside, owner of the consignment shop The Prissy Fox, and her attempts to solve the murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend.

Another nominee, in the Best Novel category, is G.M. Malliet's The Fatal Winter. I have read everything by Ms. Malliet except this last one but I do have it on reserve at the library.

The Fatal Winter is the second in her series concerning Max Tudor, the handsome, haunted vicar of St. Edwold's in Nether Monkslip. Max was introduced in the book Wicked Autumn (here and here) which I quite enjoyed.

Malliet's other series stars Detective Chief Inspector St. Just. There are three books in that series and they are all quite amusing.

I really must try out some of the past and present books nominated over the past twenty-five years. And who knows, maybe I will just make plans to attend this year's conference. 

If you are interested in reading more about the nominees and the conference, this is the link to the web site: Malice Domestic.

Post-Thanksgiving Reading

Earlier in November, Simon of Stuck in a Book reviewed his first e-book,  Shrinking Violet written by his friend Karina Lickorish Quinn. He called it "a joyous, eccentric, thoughtful little beauty of a book."

I was so intrigued by his comments - and I believe him when he assures his readers that he wouldn't say it was great if it wasn't - that I ordered it from Amazon for the amazing price of 99 cents. It is only available as a Kindle ebook. I have a Nook Color but I downloaded it on my Android phone and today I am reading it on that small screen which is not preventing me from enjoying it immensely. 

More comments to come when I finish it. It is brief - 128 pages. (I  have no idea how many 'clicks' that is on my phone though.)

I have also started Iced Chiffon, a mystery that takes place in Savannah, Georgia. It is the first book written by Duffy Brown whom I met at the Kentucky Book Fair a few weeks ago. 

It concerns one Reagan Summerside, owner of the consignment shop The Prissy Fox, and her attempts to solve the murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend. Reagan found the body and Hollis, the ex, is now in jail for murder. The only reason she is taking on the job of detective is so that Hollis won't have to go to trial meaning he would have to pay his attorney fees by selling Reagan's Victorian house. Or something like that. I am not sure how he can get his hands on her house, but then it doesn't really matter as it is a pleasant read and I love being in Savannah.